At some point in between bidding £29,000 for a pair of Beckham's boots, filming ads for Sainsbury's and being the world's best-ever dad, Jamie Oliver has found time to knock out yet another cook book. Nothing too unusual about that, you might say. This week also sees the publication of Nigella Lawson's latest volume of gastroporn, Forever Summer, leaving her tongue as firmly in her cheek as the cash is in her back pocket. But there the similarity ends. While Nigella's sole aim is the continued glorification of her own brand, Oliver casts his sights a little higher.

In the introduction to Jamie's Kitchen, he writes of his desire to give something back to the profession that has turned him into a TV celeb. "Having not been the brightest banana in the bunch myself," he says, "I realised that my biggest weapon in life was the determination, enthusiasm, hands-on and 'actions speak louder than words' approach my father taught me and I wanted to get this approach across to others... All my ideas got whittled down to one main one - to train a team of unemployed kids with an interest and passion for food and to open a new first-class restaurant in London to be run by them. The restaurant will be a charity, with all profits used to send kids on scholarships to work with the best chefs around the world."

The restaurant has yet to open, but 15 kids have begun their training and to signal his ongoing commitment Oliver will later this month give talks at colleges in Glasgow, Sunderland, Manchester and Birmingham - almost certainly the first time a book promotional tour for a top-selling name has taken in further education colleges. Let's face it, you're unlikely to see Nigella getting grubby with a few sweaty 16-year-olds over a bowl of strawberry and chardonnay sorbet.

But while Oliver may not be flogging too many books in the colleges at £25 per throw, he will be guaranteed a large captive audience. Catering is one of the few truly democratic industries where academic qualifications count for very little. "The most important thing that I look for when taking on someone to work in my kitchens is attitude," says Anton Mosimann, one of the world's top chefs. "I need to know that my staff have a commitment to the profession and take pride in giving pleasure to other people. Obviously, an academic background may help - especially if you are going into management - but I am happy to take on someone with no experience providing they have the right attitude. The skills I can teach, but the personality I can do little about."

Over the last 10 years or so, food has become a central part of the entertainment industry. Where once the best you could hope for in most British restaurants was some overdone beef swimming in cabbage water, this country is now home to some of the world's best chefs and the range and standard of cuisine has grown exponentially. In part, this has been due to an increased affluence among the middle-classes, but it has also been fuelled by the rise and rise of the TV chef. Love them or hate them, you have to work hard to avoid them and their sun-dried tomatoes.

The exposure has made household names of your Jamies, Wozzas and Delias - to say nothing of what it has done for their bank balances. For the rest of the catering industry, the gourmet glut has created job security. To be out of work after completing a catering course, you must either be totally incompetent or unbelievably lazy. Even so, you are unlikely to be as well off as Nigella. "Until a few years ago, there was a feeling among the top restaurants that people could count themselves lucky to be working there," says David Bowland, head of the specialist chef's course at Bournemouth and Poole College. "This is slowly changing, though, as the kitchens realise there is a shortage of good staff. When you could earn £150 per week working shorter hours stacking shelves at Tesco's, people were reluctant to work 12-hour days for just £80 a week. So now restaurants are having to pay decent salaries to keep their staff."

Bowland operates at very much the top end of the industry. Even though most students start his three-year course as 16-year-olds, within three months they are sent off to do a year's work placement at prestige nosheries, such as The Ritz, Claridges, Kensington Place and the House of Commons. And on completion, many students go back to work full-time at these restaurants. One student, Gary Robinson, is now Prince Charles's chef at Highgrove.

For all their TV appeal Nigella and Delia have proved utterly resistible role models for women. "The top kitchens still have a reputation as a macho environment," says Bowland. "Of the 30 new students we take on each year, only four or five are women. Having said that, the women we do get are highly committed and are as good - if not better - than the men."

Understandably most women are reluctant to slog their guts out in a stifling kitchen for the doubtful pleasure of being abused - though the rewards are there for those who do. Angela Hartnett has survived a Gordon Ramsay apprenticeship to replace Michel Bourdin as the new head of the Connaught. But the women who do become chefs are more likely to disappear into the relatively anonymous, but hugely profitable, world of contract catering. "This has been the single largest growth area of our industry," says Bowland, " and the quality has improved out of all recognition. Where once you would be lucky to get some greasy sausage, egg and chips operation you will now get food on a par with Le Gavroche at the top end of the market. Moreover, there is far less pressure in contract work. You know exactly how many people you are cooking for and, because the contracts are properly priced, you won't have a kitchen short of staff."

At whatever level within the industry you want to work - the jobs and the courses are there. As well as its specialised course, Bournemouth and Poole College also offers NVQ level 2 catering. Similar courses can be found elsewhere throughout the country. Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies has been named as a national Centre of Excellence for hotel management, tourism and leisure management and culinary arts and has recently started offering degree courses in these subjects. And if you fancy a total change of scenery - and have the dosh - then the crème de la crème, as it were, of European colleges is Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. This school has a more academic approach than many, but at least if you go there and start a restaurant you won't go bust because you don't understand the business.

But wherever you choose to study, if you've got the right attitude and come armed with some sharp Sabatiers and a good qualification then the world really is your oyster. Or pan-seared scallops wrapped in pancetta, if you prefer.